CIPS members want guiding law

CIPS members want guiding law

Unprofessionalism among procurement officers, said most of the dubious deals in Uganda are as a result of lack of professionalism among procurement practitioners.

“Since procurement plays a key role in the functioning of organisations, it has to be handled by professional people,” he said.

Procurement law

According to Matovu there should be a law in place to govern procurement practitioners.

The law which is being worked on by CIPS, the Finance ministry and Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority, seeks to put in place guiding principles for procurement officials.

“I appeal to government to help us with this law. We need a law that requires one to first get an operating license in order to conduct procurement duties,” Matovu said.

About 70 per cent of the government resources, according to Matovu are spent in public procurement.

However, experts say, whereas media has hugely focused on public service there is there is need to pay equal attention to the private procurement system, where cases of fraud and corruption haven reported.

Trevor Ncube, a Zimbabwean media mogul, who is also the owner of South African-based Mail and Guardian newspaper, recently told a meeting in Kampala that corruption in the private sector in many parts of Africa is as pervasive as it is in the public sector.

More coordination with CIPS Africa needed

During the same occasion, CIPS Uganda members expressed dissatisfaction on how CIPS Africa has not given the country sufficient support, especially in relation to the organisation’s visibility.

“We have communication challenges with CIPS Africa. As members, we normally write to them to address certain issues but there is no response. This has hindered our efforts of making CIPS Uganda more visible,” said Alex Nduhura, the CIPS Uganda public relations officer.

The membership manager CIPS Africa, Ms Auma Nnane advised CIPS Uganda members to write a formal petition that contains all their grievances such that the issues are settled professionally.